Comfort Food: Italian Stuffed Peppers

My mom is a reluctant but amazing cook. She doesn't love food like how my dad and I love food; for her, food is fuel for her body. This doesn't mean that she doesn't like trying new recipes on us or experimenting with different techniques, but she doesn't obsess over it like how we do. She has turned out some absolutely fabulous dishes and is always very modest when we compliment her cooking.

She has several recipes that always make me think of her and this one is my absolute favorite. If I am to ask her to make anything, this is it. Originating from my Nana, I think I was the first to actually put the pen to the paper and write it down. It is very easy to throw together during the week for a family dinner, and it makes great leftovers the next few days. Another plus is that it is relatively healthy. The flavor comes from the Italian seasoning, not fat. I love it. :)

Italian Stuffed Peppers - My Nana And Mom's Recipe

• 1 1/3 - 1 1/2 Lbs. ground beef, 93/7 works well
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 bell peppers, halved and cored
• 1/2 cup Italian style bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 can tomato soup
• Dried herbs such as oregano, basil, parsley to your taste
• Pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine ground beef, onion, bread crumbs, cheese, and herbs in a mixing bowl (I use a more liberal hand with my seasonings as I like stronger flavors - modify this part to your tastes.) 

Form into meatballs and place into halved bell peppers (I had two meatballs left over). Place peppers and meatballs in a dutch oven and pour tomato soup over. 

Cook for roughly 45min to 1 hour - your peppers should be tender but not mushy. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and server over rice.

Happy eating y'all! :)

Colorado Part IV: Snooze

I think that everyone knows by now just how much I love breakfast....if not, I love it A LOT IN CAPS! Snooze takes my love of breakfast and multiplies it by a gazillion!!! THAT'S how good it is. Period.

This was our last meal before I headed home to Houston and I enjoyed every last bite as this was also the one place I was looking forward to going to the most. Kristen started with a latte, I ordered a mocha, and when our drinks arrived in Snooze's signature yellow mugs, I was happily surprised and tickled to see that they had written "Snooze" in chocolate across the top. Seriously, how cute is that?!

After consulting with our waiter, I ended up ordering their Caprese Benedict and it was everything I wanted AND more. Poached eggs (mmmmm...), check. Fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, check check. Cream cheese hollandaise...(I KNOW RIGHT?!), check! It was SOOOOooooo good!!!!! All served so prettily on toasted ciabatta bread with a nice mound of hash browns on the side.

Heirloom tomato slices, fresh mozzarella, poached eggs, basil pesto, balsamic drizzle, toasted ciabatta, cream cheese hollandaise

Kristen ordered the "Sandwich I am". As far as breakfast sandwiches go, you can't get anything better than this! She let me have a bite, it was fantastic. Normally it comes with hash browns, but not being a lover of hash browns, she swapped them out for the pancake of the day: a mint oreo pancake. Wow.

Udi's soft pretzel roll, scrambled eggs, chedder cheese, sausage patty, smoked chedder hollandaise on the side

Pancake of the day: mint oreo

It was definitely hard to go back to her house and pack after this breakfast. We even joked that all we were missing was a wheelbarrow to wheel us on home. :)

Snooze - 2260 Larimer Street, Denver, Colorado, 80205

Approximately: "I can't even remember I was in a food-coma", 2 people

1 - Latte

1 - Mocha

1 - Breakfast Sandwich

1 - Caprese Benedict

1 - Pancake of the day

Food: 8

Atmosphere:7

Presentation: 7

Colorado Part III: d Bar Desserts

d-Bar Desserts....where do I even begin?! 

As much as I loved Euclid Hall, I loved my meal at d-Bar just a little bit more. We got to sit at the bar where we got to watch Avery the pastry chef whip up all sorts of delicious goodies. d-Bar is very popular, but most people skip the delicious savory food in favor of the desserts. Never one to practice restraint when it comes to yummies, I got to experience the deliciousness of both!

Kristen and I started out by splitting their grilled caesar salad. Grilling the romaine lettuce gives it this very distinct un-lettuce-like flavor which I liked immediately. I am not sure if most people would like it right away, especially if they were not expecting it like I was. The presentation was beautiful, and the crunch of the breadsticks added a nice texture.

Grilled whole romaine, caesar dressing, balsamic reduction, shaved parm

For our main course, Kristen ordered the steak and frites and I ordered the Kobe sliders. OH. EM. GEE. CAPS. PERIOD. I've had excellent sliders at 'Lil Bigs in Houston but those paled in comparison to these. The Kobe beef patty was velvety in texture with amazing mouthfeel and flavor, the white chedder added a delicious bite, the garlic aioli added even more richness, and the soft buttery brioche bun soaked up all of the succulent juice. Everything came together beautifully -- absolute perfection on a bun.

Kobe beef, brioche, drunken onions, white chedder, garlic aoili, parm fries

The amazingness of my sliders were equal to the amazingness of Kristen's steak. At one point, she even showed me how she could cut her steak with her fork (I know she loves me greatly since she let me have not one but a couple of bites!). Her fries soaked up the delicious, delicious meat juice; again, absolutely fabulous.

USDA prime flat iron, shallot red wine butter, garlic parm fries

Our desserts were amazing. I went from not having any room to spare to gobbling up every last bite of my dish. I ordered this fabulous seasonal peach creme brulee stack, Kristen ordered the s'mores waffle. Best part was that we got to watch Avery make it right in front of us and then hand it to us over the bar counter. SO AMAZEBALLOONS!!!

Rock candy graham waffle, manjari cremeux, toasted marshmallow, malted ice cream

Fresh peaches sauteed in lavendar syrup, shortbread cookie, vanilla bean creme brulee, peach sorbet, sugar shard

 d Bar Desserts - 1475 E.17th Avenue, Denver, Colorado, 80218

Approximately $55, 2 people

1 - Grilled Caesar Salad

1 - Steak and Frites

1 - Kobe Sliders

1 - Peachy Amazingness Dessert

1 - S'mores Waffle

Food: 9.5

Atmosphere: 8

Presentation: 8.5

Colorado Part II: Camping

Columbine Flower

It has been years since I have been camping and never once have I gone as an adult. Lucky me that I got to go camping in Colorado which is unquestioningly a beautiful place. After introducing myself to Kristen's four absolutely fabulous and lovely Denver friends, six of us girls and one guy (poor Bill!), piled into three cars  (one of which was Kristen's Prius!), and headed out for our adventure in Pike National Forest.

Roughly two hours later, we found the perfect camp spot about 11,000 feet up in a little clearing off of a dirt road. Bill was wonderful and did most if not all of the hard labor as we girls claimed our spots by the campfire and ate Cheeze-its and busted out the beer and bourbon. Lunch consisted of hotdogs we roasted over the fire (absolutely delicious!), and yummy baked goods that Brittney had made from scratch and brought for us.

Charred and yummy; I also toasted my bun on the rocks!

The Denver girls went for a hike while Bill and I held down the fort and relaxed after lunch. More beer and goofing off later, Kristen started heating up her mom's spaghetti sauce that she had made the night before. I am convinced that everything tastes even better when you're "roughing it" outside.

Left to right: Kristen, Diane, Laurie, Ariel, Brittney

Fabulous Le Creuset dutch oven.

We continued to pass our time by shooting Bill's handgun and rifle, exercising our mouths by talking and shouting, playing frisbee, drinking more beer and bourbon, claiming stumps in the woods by relieving ourselves on them, watching Ariel chop wood, and finally, MAKING S'MORES!!!

I set my marshmallow on fire to get that yummy char!

At this point, we were all stuffed and a little tipsy. I decided that it would be in my best interest to go to sleep (it was getting really cold!), so I wrapped myself up in my borrowed sleeping bag and dozed off in the tent. The sunshine woke us all up early the next morning and Ariel started cooking breakfast on the propane stove. Again, everything tastes SO GOOD when you're outside....or maybe it was the fact that the eggs and hashbrowns were both cooked in the bacon grease! We all ate standing up around the community plate!

Cheesy scrambled eggs!

I had such a blast camping! Kristen's friends were very fun and several were foodies like us. All in all, camping was my favorite part of my vacation!!!

We built our campfire in the tiny clearing in the trees :)

Colorado part I: Euclid Hall

I'm sitting here staring at my post, thinking about Colorado, and completely stumped as to where to begin the FANTASTIC EPICNESS that was my trip!!!! Let's start with the County Fair....my friend won FIRST PLACE!!!! YAY!!!! This came as no surprise to me, her yarn was gorgeous... :)

We ate at Euclid Hall on Friday night. After a bit of discussion, we decided to do a tasting of quite a few things but to order them after each bit just in case we changed our minds, which we did a few times.

Beer in hand, Kristen had to talk me into starting with the bruléed bone marrow but let me say this: OH EM GEE. CAPS. PERIOD. Our server (who also happened to be quite adorable), described it perfectly as...."meat butter." It was completely different than what I had pictured in my mind (which I am not going to describe here because it was quite gross and the opposite of what it ended up being), and I ended up spooning up little bits of the delicious gravy that was served with it after we had finished gobbling it up.

Bone marrow, demi glace, sherry reduction, grilled sourdough

Just a quick note: I had brought my camera but didn't put it on the "food" setting so unfortunately, this picture is fuzzy. The other ones turned out well though! :)

Next, we ordered lamb poutine. Poutine originated in Quebec and is traditionally a dish of french fries, gravy, and fresh cheese curds. Euclid Hall kicks it up a notch and offers three gourmet poutine dishes that completely knock your socks off. We chose the lamb version and it was again, absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious.

Braised and grilled lamb, smoked espagnole sauce, goat cheese, micro sorrel

After a quick breather, we each chose a dish to share. Kristen went with the Spätzle, I chose one of their fresh, hand-cranked sausages. The sausage came with four different kinds of house-made mustard; all spicy, all grainy and delicious.

Caraway Spatzle, sauteed crisp, 10,000 island dressing

Beef short rib kielbasa sausage

At this point, we were stuffed to the brim but we couldn't walk away from sharing their S'mores Pot de Crème. Day to day,  I prefer savory over sweet but I couldn't keep my spoon out of this little dessert cup. I've also never had a homemade graham cracker before! Ummm can you say AMAZEBALLOONS?!

The beer that I drank was Lefthand Milk Stout Nitro. Similar to Guinness in texture but sweeter; It was poured beautifully and was the perfect accompaniment to my meal.

Euclid Hall - 1317 14th Street, Denver Colorado, 80202

Approximately $50, 2 people

3 - Different beers

2 - Bone Marrow

1 - Lamb Poutine

1 - Spätzle

1 - Kielbasa sausage

1 - S'mores Pot de Crème

Food: 8

Atmosphere: 8

Presentation: 8.5